Contents

Early Life and the Rise of Apocalypse

Clarice was born on the island of Cartusia in the Bahamas, but her parents immigrated to the United States when she was four years old, and raised her in Miami. Although born with pointed ears, facial markings, and purple skin and hair, Clarice lived a relatively normal life until the rise of Apocalypse. When Apocalypse's culling led by Sinister reached Florida, Clarice's parents were slaughtered, but not before they hid her so that she would not be found. Clarice was still captured and placed into the slave pens[2]. There, she found comfort with her only companion, the young Illyana Rasputina, and was regularly experimented on by both the Sugar Man and the Dark Beast.[3]

Joining the X-Men, Early Exploits

Surviving into her teenage years, Blink was rescued from the pens by Sabertooth, a member of the mutant rebels known as the X-Men, and welcomed into their number. During a period when Apocalypse was recuperating from a near-death experience on the Moon's Blue Area, the X-Men convinced the frightened Clarice to muster up the bravery to teleport them there. They clashed with Apocalypse's HorsemanDeath a member of the Inhumans. With the help of the prelate Cyclops, Clarice freed her comrades and stop Maximus' attempt to usurp control of Apocalypse's forces, destroying Apocalypse's ship in the process before returning to Earth.[4]

Sometime later, Clarice became a full-fledged member of the team, taking up the code named Blink. However, she was often brash and careless in her attempts to fight Apocalypses forces. After disobeying orders while attempting to stop a culling in Texas, Blink used her powers to put the Impossible Man, a diplomat from the planet Popup out of his misery after being subject to ghastly experiments by the Dark Beast. Afterward, the X-Men's leader Magneto warned Clarice that if she acted out of line again, he would be forced to boot her out of the X-Men. Seeking to prove herself she attempted to infiltrate Apocalypse's citadel and witnessed Holocaust battling Blastaar, ruler of the Negative Zone. Believing that Blastaar's forces would make ideal allies in the X-Men's cause to defeat Apocalypse, Clarice secretly crossed through Blastaar's portal.[2]

Losing her memory after journeying through the portal, Clarice joined up with Ahmyor, a freedom fighter seeking to oust Blastaar from leadership in the Negative Zone and return its previous leader Annihilus to power. While helping Ahmyor's rebellion, Clarice fell in love with him[5]. However, the pair were soon captured by Blastaar's forces and made prisoners, and Blastaar revealed to Blink that her beloved Ahmyor was in reality Annihilus and that he was plotting to use the Annihilation Cannon to destroy the Earth[6]. Blastaar told her that Ahmyor had no idea of his true identity, but Blastaar suggested that Ahmyor had manipulated her into joining his rebellion by showing her a quiver that Ahmyor had in his possession since the day they met. Breaking out of her cell, Blink recovered her quiver and remember who she really was. She then used her powers to save Ahmyor (who was now transforming back into Annihilus) and send the Annihilation Cannon away to blow up Blastaar's kingdom before being transported back home and reunited with the X-Men.[7]

Twilight of the Age of Apocalypse

In recent times, Blink was dispatched along with her teammate Sunfire to Chicago to investigate rumors that Apocalypse was resuming his cullings even though he had signed the Kelly Pact with the Human High Council. They found that not only was there a culling going on, but it was being overseen by Holocaust. Attacked by Apocalypse's forces, and with Sunfire injured, Blink had no choice but to teleport them both back to the X-Men's base at the old Xavier estate, even though it brought the Prelate Delgado into their midst. However, Blink closed her portal while he was halfway through, killing him instantly. While Magneto sent various squads of X-Men to collect the means to see if the stranger Bishop's claims of a fractured reality were true, he sent a team led by his wife Rogue to deal with Holocaust's culling in Chicago. This team included Blink and her savior Sabretooth.[8]

While helping her fellow X-Men stop the culling and freeing those in the slave pens, Sabretooth went up against Holocaust alone, and was beaten nearly to death[9]. When Blink and the others infiltrated Holocaust's Infinite processing plant, Blink came across Sabretooth's unconscious body[10]. Thinking Sabretooth to be dead, she fought against Holocaust alone, holding her own against the Horseman until her fellow X-Men arrived. Overpowering Holocaust, the villain escaped, but not before telling Rogue that his father Apocalypse had Magneto, their son Charles, and a fragment of the M'Kraan Crystal in his possession.[11]

Blink was among the X-Men strike force that stormed Apocalypse's citadel to get everything back, and hopefully return reality to normal. Although there were many casualties, Apocalypse was killed and Bishop went back in time to prevent the death of Charles Xavier, something that was supposed to revert reality back to normal.[12] Instead, the mission resulted the divergence of Earth-616 from Earth-295, making them distinct realities. Blink survived the ordeal, and as the nuclear warheads sent by the Human High Council were about to destroy her world, Blink became unhinged in time.[7]

Exiles

Blink found herself transported to a desert beyond time and space along with various other X-Men from alternate realities. They included Nocturne (Talia Wagner) of Earth-2182, Mimic of Earth-12, Morph of Earth-1081, Thunderbird of Earth-1100, and Magnus of Earth-27. A mysterious being named the Timebroker explained that she had become unhinged from time, and was to join a team of five others to fix altered timelines so that they could return home. If they failed, their lives would end in tragedy, if they were to die on missions they would be replaced. Blink had the most to lose, as she was told by the Timebroker that since her reality no longer existed she would cease to exist as well. Arming Blink with the Tallus a device that would tell them what their mission objectives would be, the Exiles (as they'd soon come to call themselves) were sent to Earth-1815 to determine who their leader would be. Finding themselves on a world where all super-humans were incarcerated, the Exiles thought that freeing Charles Xavier would fix the timeline. However, after freeing Xavier, they learned that in this reality he was evil[13]. The Exiles worked together to stop the evil Xavier and his X-Men, freeing all of the world's captive super-heroes, losing their teammate Magnus in the battle. Blink became the Exiles' reluctant leader- her teammates reasoning that her greater distance from the 'default' realities would make her less uncomfortable dealing with corrupted versions of people who would have been her teammates' colleagues-, and Magnus was be replaced with Sunfire of Earth-2109[14].

Blink would be the backbone of the team, forming close relationships with her teammates and slowly form a relationship with her teammate Mimic. On Earth-8649, Blink and the others would help the X-Men stop an insane Jean Grey who had become the Dark Phoenix[15]; Help Alpha Flight of Earth-901237 contain the Hulk[16] before taking a break on Earth-6955 before another series of missions[17].

Blink with the Exiles

Blink would lead the Exiles through Earth-2318 (A world where the Savage Land spanned two continents), Earth-20318 (where they acted as body guards for President Tony Stark), Earth-23018 (A world where everyone was mutated by gamma rays), Earth-39102 (the world of the Antelope Men), Earth-32081 (hope of the Spider-Demon), Earth-971023 (populated by X-Babies)[18], and stopping a bank robbery on Earth-9212 and being granted yet another vacation[19]. They would next settle on Earth-5692, a world conquered by the Skrulls who had enslaved the people of Earth and forced it's super powered population to fight in a gladiator arena. Only Blink and Morph would avoid capture, and they would work with this reality's Reed Richards to free their friends, however the Skrulls would flee upon the arrival of the planet devourer Galactus[18]. Blink and her comrades would rally the super-hero population into battling Galactus[20] and eventually defeat him, although at the loss of her teammate Thunderbird, who would be replaced by Sasquatch of Earth-3470[21].

Next the Exiles would be transported to Earth-2600, where they would be paired up with another group of reality jumpers known as Weapon X, who were lead much to Blink's surprise, by Sabertooth of her home reality. Both teams would be charged with rescuing David Richards from Sentinel captivity, however they would learn that it would be to kill David as he would become a tyrant upon becoming an adult[22]. Blink would unable to bring herself to kill young David, and would have Sabertooth join their side in defending the boy from Weapon X. Ultimately, Sabertooth would agree to stay behind on Earth-2600 to insure that young David would grow up to be a savior instead of a menace, completing both teams missions[23].

Their next mission, Blink and her comrades would find themselves on Earth-1016 where they would be forced to help Dr. Doom defeat Namor and prevent him from conquering the world[24], during this mission Mimic would become colder toward Clarice due to his requirement to kill Namor to complete the mission[25]. On Earth-21117 they would find the entire west coast was invaded by lizard creatures spawned by Curt Connors a mission that would end when Connors would commit suicide[26]. Their mission would get hijacked briefly by the extra-dimensional tyrant known as Mojo who would seek to capture Morph and force him back into showbiz. Blink and the other Exiles would recruit Longshot and help free their friend before the Timebroker would pull them out of the Mojoverse and back on track[27].

Sent "Home"

Blink and the other Exiles would next end up on Earth-8545 a world where a combination of Warlock'sTransmode Virus and the Legacy Virus would create an invasive species of Technarc/human hybrids known as the Vi-Locks. The Exiles would work with that worlds Avengers to find a cure by summoning the Asgardians and use their blood as a cure. Upon their missions success, the Timebroker would appear and tell Blink that her "reality" was fixed and that she would be sent back home. Despite the groups desire to keep Blink on, she would be replaced by Magik of Earth-4210[28].

However, since at the time Earth-295 did not exist, Blink was instead sent back to Earth-2600, where 20 years had passed and David Richards had grown to be a young man. She would appear just as Sabertooth and the adult David Richards would be preparing for their final assault against the Sentinels. Blink would aid in liberating their world. However, David would become power-mad and taking control of Blink and her powers, would use her to track down the human scientists who had been secretly controlling the Sentinels all these years and force her to slay them. Sabertooth would slaughter David, freeing Blink from his control[29]. However, she would be pulled back into the fold of the Exiles following their battle on Earth-321 where a Brood controlled Mimic had accidentally slew Sunfire. She would avoid talking about her experiences on Earth-2600, only telling her comrades that she went back to that world[30].

King Hyperion Saga

Despite the fact that Morph would blame Mimic for Sunfire's death and the constant friction between the team and Magik, Blink would bring the group together when it mattered most. By this time Weapon X was being controlled by the evil Hyperion of Earth-4023 who was derailing the group to try to find a world to rule. Finding two teams no longer viable, the Timebroker would pit the two teams together on Earth-4400 to cull their ranks to one team. Blink, the Exiles and the defecting Gambit would work together to seemingly slay Hyperion. By the battles end only Blink, Morph, Mimic, Nocturne, and Sasquatch would remain[31].

Unknown to the group, Hyperion would survive and break free, enslaving insectoids dubbed the Timebreakers (the beings that were really manipulating the Exiles after they damaged the multiverse) and began forcing them to meddle in the Exiles missions. Travelling to Earth-616, the Exiles would have to deal with their new teammate Namora from Earth-2189 who would bring them into conflict with this realities Fantastic Four and Sub-Mariner before learning that they would have to leave their teammate Nocturne behind and have her replaced with X-ManBeak, an addition that the Exiles would find nearly useless[32]. On Earth-14845 they would clash with an insane Impossible Man[33].

When travelling to Earth-5423, the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants would kidnap Clarice and replace her with Mystique who would manipulate the Exiles into springing out the Big M, this realities version of Mimic. However, Blink would free herself and the Exiles would ultimately show the Big M the errors of his way of life, making him reform to a more peaceful existence[34]. In their next mission, Blink and the other Exiles would help defend Reed Richards defend his sentient world of Earth-4162 from Ego the Living Planet. During this adventure, Blink would encounter the Celestials who would warn her to beware the "Timebreakers"[35]. In one of their most off-beat adventures, Blink and the Exiles would save Earth-26292 from an invasion from the Shi'ar by purchasing a single danish[36].

By this time, Hyperion would be finalizing his attempt at getting revenge against the Exiles. They would be sent to the magical world of Earth-37072 where they would briefly be transformed into Hyborian era warriors until freed by Spider-Man and Kulan Gath and aid in overthrowing that realities ruler Zarathos and preventing him from taking over the entire Earth[37]. Their encounter on this world would cause the spirit of Tanaraq to take control of Blink's teammate Sasquatch. The spirit would then seek the geniuses of Earth-50358 to help him learn the secret of the Tallus. However the Exiles would defeat Tanaraq by tricking his Earth-50358 counterpart to destroy him, freeing Heather from his curse (although Hyperion would secretly remove her from the group)[38].

On the next world, Blink would be forced to face her past when they are transported to Earth-2600 where Blink would have to own up to what David Richards made her do. When Blink would learn that their mission would be to kill Mimic, she would refuse and Hyperion (acting through the Timebroker construct) would transfer leadership over to Sabretooth, however the Exiles would still refuse to slay their comrade, forcing the "Timebroker" to send them on[29]. Much to their surprise, they would be transported back to Blink and Sabretooth's native Earth-295 which was recently restored to existence, and they would be forced to admit a new member to their group, Holocaust -- also of Blink and Sabretooth's world. This would lead to a brief clash with Blink's old allies the X-Men and their leader Magneto before the team would refuse to work for the Timebroker any longer and use the M'Kraan Crystal to try and stop him[39].

Ultimately, the Exiles would end up in the Panoptichron (later referred to as the "Crystal Palace") and learn the true nature of their mission. They would battle Hyperion, leading to the deaths of Holocaust and Namora, and Mimic being seriously injured. It would not be until Beak would pull the Hyperion's of Earth-712 and Earth-5764 to defeat the evil Hyperion and trap him on his native Earth-4023. With Hyperion's threat ended the Exiles would agree to continue to operate but using the Crystal Palaces resources to their full effect[40].

Freeing various injured and defeated Exiles from the stasis wall and sending them home, Blink would attempt to heal Mimic's injuries, which they would ultimately succeed by getting Mimic to mimic the powers of Deadpool of Earth-5021[41]. After helping the heroes of Earth-3752 quell and attack between Krakoa and Fin Fang Foom the Exiles would agree to help Beak get back home to his wife and children[42].

World Tour

Mimic's death

Before leaving, Blink would address her dislike of the fact that Mimic's use of Deadpool's powers causing his skin to become deformed, however they would hit trouble when the healing factor proved so powerful that it prevented Mimic from mimicking another power to replace it. They would then attempt to bring Beak back to his home reality of Earth-616, unfortunately for the Exiles they would arrive just as the world was being altered by Scarlet Witch's reality warp, supplanting Earth-616 with Earth-58163, a world where mutants ruled.[43] They would track down Beak's wife Angel who in this reality was a famous fashion model. Their search for her would lead to a clash with the evil mutant Kevin MacTaggert a mutant serial killer dubbed Mutant X. When Mutant X possessed Angel, Blink and the other Exiles would recruit the aid of Moira MacTaggert, Kevin's own mother to help stop him.[44] In the final battle, Mutant X (now calling himself Proteus) would be forced out of Angel's body and take possession of Mimic. He would then steal information out of the Tallus and learn how to use his powers to jump to different realities, hoping to find a body that is powerful enough to sustain his body and not burn out. Blink would use a serum prepared to cure Mimic of his deformity to help Beak cure Angel of her injuries and the Exiles would leave Beak behind to hunt down Proteus in the hopes of freeing Mimic.[45]

Blink and the others would follow Mimic/Proteus to Earth-148611, diverging it to Earth-15731, where Proteus sought to possess Kenneth Connell possessor of the Star Brand, a powerful energy source native of that reality. Blink and the Exiles would meet that worlds team of paranormals known as DP7, and later would clash with Connell who believed they were alien invaders.[46] However, they would convince Connell to help them too late to prevent Proteus from burning out Mimic's body and taking possession of the hero known as Justice, before the Exiles could take him down.[47] Not even the aid of Nightmask and the addition of Longshot to Exiles could stop Proteus, who would escape to another reality -- but not without providing the Exiles with at least one advantage in the future: When Proteus absorbed Mimic's mind, he also absorbed his love for Clarice as well.[48]

Before tackling Proteus again, Blink and the others would be injected with a tiny piece of metal to prevent Proteus from taking possession of their bodies in the future. They would next follow Proteus to the Earth-982 diverging it to Earth-6375, a world currently in the distant future year of 2099. In this reality, Blink and the Exiles would work with Spider-Man of that reality to try and stop Proteus from possessing the body of that world's Hulk.[49] They would fail, and in the process Spider-Man's true identity of Miguel O'Hara would be revealed to the world and he would petition to accompany them on their next reality jump to stop Proteus.[50]

Proteus would trick Blink and the Exiles into going to Earth-712, where they would be detained by that worlds Squadron Supreme who were convinced by Proteus that the Exiles were out of control.[51] However, put on a mock trail, Blink -- with the help of Heather from the Crystal Palace -- would show the Squadron their hypoactive judging them and would help them defeat the Global Directorate, however before they could go Power Princess would impose herself on the group.[52]

Power Princess would supplant Blink's leadership on their trip to Earth-9200 to prevent Proteus from taking possession of the Maestro, deciding to team-up with the Maestro to try and gain the upper hand.[53] However, this gambit would fail in an unlikely way, Proteus would be forced to possess Blink's teammate Morph, and to his surprise was the ideal body he was seeking the whole time. When Proteus would escape this time, Blink would take back control of the Exiles, not wishing to lose another teammate to the monster who killed the love of her life.[54]

When Proteus would attempt to return to his home reality, Heather would force him to instead end up on Earth-616's Counter-Earth, where he would attempt to destroy the world with the aid of Order and Kaos.[55] However, Blink and the Exiles, with the aid of the Young Allies would succeed in placing a modified b-mod machine (from Earth-712) on Proteus's head, submerging everything but Morph's personality. With their mission a success, Blink and her teammates would have a new problem: maintaining the belief that Proteus was really their old teammate Morph.[56]

Back in the Saddle

Blink and the other Exiles would take a break from the reality repairing in order to return the dead and injured former members of the Exiles and Weapon X to their native realities. Blink would initially try to bury Mimic's body in the desert room of the Crystal Palace, until Sabertooth would convince her to return him to his native reality.[57] Blink would return Mimic to his native Earth-12, where he she would be present for his funeral among that worlds X-Men, they would offer her to join their team however she would consider it. When she would be called to Heather's native Earth-3470 to help the Exiles and Alpha Flight stop Soviet Super-Soldiers from unleashing Chernobog a Darkforce creature loose in their reality. However, when they completed their mission, Blink and the Exiles would find that the Timebreakers had "fired" them for not following their orders and taking time away from their mission to fix broken realities.[58]

The Timebroker's solution would be to attempt to stop Brother Mutant of Earth-127 by ending a team of Exiles comprising of alternate realty versions of Wolverine, due to the fact that he is the "best there is", however each attempt at a new team of Wolverine based Exiles would fail, and nearly every Wolverine would be taken under the control of Brother Mutant.[59] Realizing the grave error they had made, the Timebreakers would re-recruit Blink and the other Exiles to help the remaining Wolverine's stop Brother Mutant, after which they turned control over of their mission officially to Blink and the others.[60]

Clarice and the others were next sent to Earth-552, a world where Galactus was a healer of worlds and his former herald the Silver Surfer was a vengeful killer that destroyed the Earth and decimated most of the Shi'ar Imperial Guard.[61] Blink and the others would hold off the Silver Surfer's galactic quest to eliminate Galactus until Sabertooth briefly gained the Power Cosmic to combat, and ultimately destroy the Surfer.[62]

On Earth-27536 on a mission to save J. Jonah Jameson from the Sinister Six, Blink would be injured by Electro requiring for her to spend time recovering. However, when she had fully recovered, she would learn that on subsequent missions the Exiles would end up in situations where Proteus's personality would manifest more and more frequently, requiring them to regularly submit him to b-mod treatments.[63]

Blink and the others would next go on a mission to investigate the appearance of a team of Exiles resembling the original team on Earth-33629. In combating the group, they would eventually learn that it was a contest orchestrated by the Grandmaster of that reality, and the Grandmaster of Earth-1815, the first world the Exiles ever visited. Realizing the deception, both teams would confront the Grandmasters and be killed. However when the Elders of the Universe would arrive to punish their errant "brother", they would resurrect Blink and the others and return them to the Crystal Palace and leave their Earth-33629 counterparts to remain as that worlds defenders.[64]

Later Adventures

She continued to give her best to the team, and after several long missions, took a break, leaving Sabretooth to continue as leader in her place.[65]

When that iteration of the team was disbanded, Blink was drawn back to the Panoptichron as a secretive inside trainer for new teams of reality fixers, and she remained in this role even after they discovered who she really was.[66].

Powers

Bio-Molecular Spatial Displacement: Blink has the ability to displace matter through a type of teleportation rift, appearing as blinking holes, enabling her to move objects or people various distances and displace matter out of sync with reality. Her effective teleporting range is to the moon and back. Blink is capable of manifesting the energy for her portals in the form of short javelins, which she can throw at an object to cause it to teleport. She uses this ability both offensively and defensively. Also she can send multiple targets to multiple locations at once.

Transportation

Weapons

X-Man, Blink and Morph were originally supposed to be a team of X-Men by themselves, but it was later changed, and therefore never followed upon. Soon the series Exiles was created, and X-Man continued instead.[68]

While Blink's fate after Exiles has never been revealed Age of Apocalypse ongoing series writer David Lapham mentioned in an interview that Weapon Omega had dealt with Blink. This means that Blink might be dead which would explain her absence during the appearance of the X-Men of her reality in Uncanny X-Force. However this has yet to be confirmed in the comics themselves.<[69]